Desert Skies Parachute Rigging Archive

Main Parachute Airworthiness Inspection

Desert Skies Parachute Rigging offers a complete airworthyness inspection of your main. Your main parachute is not included in the FAA mandated 180 day inspection of our emergency parachute (reserve) system. Ironically enough, the main is the one that takes the most abuse and frquently needs attention. Our inspection includes

poor field recovery technique - the desert is a harsh environment for skydiving equipment. The desert dust and vegitation take a significant toll on your equipment.

Suspention and steering line dimension / trim

your lines come from the factory a specific determined length and these lengths are integral to the proper function of your canopy. Over time, and depending on the line type, these lines change due to a mixture of stretching and shrinking (see FAQ below). Eventually, depending on the trim sensativity of your canopy, this can affect how the canopy opens and flys. This is indicative of your canopy getting out of trim.

some line types are dimensionally stable - these include HMA and Vectran. There is very little elasticity meaning little stretch, and they do not shrink do to slider and riser guide ring friction like spectra. However, they do not last as long as Spectra.

Some line types are not dimensionally stable - Spectra (micro line) will last for hundreds, perhaps thousands of jumps. However, from the start some lines stretch on opening, and not all at the same rate. Then, over time they begin to shrink due to heat imparted on the ines from slider grommet friction